How Should Public Schools Accommodate Transgender Students?

California has enacted legislation ensuring transgender students the same opportunity as all other students to participate in all school activities and programs. The statute, the first of its kind in the nation, requires schools to allow transgender students to use all facilities (including restrooms and locker rooms) that match their gender identity, rather than their sexual identity. In contrast, a bill proposed in Utah would require students either to use only the restroom that corresponds to their sexual identity (documented by a birth certificate or doctor’s examination) or to use a separate restroom set aside for transgender students that must be provided at a student’s request.

What is the best policy with respect gender identity and use of restrooms? The UNC Ethics Bowl Team will debate this and related questions, and then the audience will be invited to join the discussion.

Debate Team #1 is composed of:

Brittany Leppert, a senior philosophy major

Ellie Beck, a senior peace, war, and defense major

Alex Martin, a junior biology and philosophy major

Sky Jones, a senior geological sciences major

Debate Team #2 is composed of:

Tommy Savransky, a junior psychology and philosophy major

Sri Sure, a junior philosophy major with minors in economics and mathematics

Jake Feldkamp, a senior philosophy major

Moriah Johnson, a senior biology and philosophy major

Robert March, a junior mathematics major

The Ethics Bowl Team is coached by Joshua Blanchard, a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy and a research assistant at the UNC Parr Center for Ethics.

Come listen to the UNC Ethics Bowl Team debate and join in the discussion afterward! The Freedom Forum Conference Center is on the third floor of Carroll Hall.